Do the right thing: How changing behaviors prevents breaches
In most cases, insiders -- which include employees and third party vendors -- want to do the right thing. They don’t want to put their company at risk of a breach. After monitoring and analyzing the behaviors of more than a million users, our Bay Dynamics experts discovered that in approximately 90 percent of data loss prevention incidents -- meaning when employees leak sensitive data outside an organization -- the employees are legitimate users who innocently send out data for business purposes.
Without even realizing it, insiders are putting their organizations at risk of a breach -- using weak passwords, sending out private information they should not be accessing, clicking on any link that comes into their inbox, etc. They do not understand the potential repercussions of their actions and as a result, we keep seeing more breaches.
There has never been a better time to tweak your Facebook privacy settings
Facebook and privacy are not words you tend to find together in the same sentence -- at least not in a positive sense. Just a few days ago, the social network announced that all public posts were to be made searchable -- although it wasn't really billed as such.
You might not be entirely happy with this. While you may now be careful that you only share posts with your friends, a huge number of historic posts have now been made searchable. If you'd prefer to keep your content private, now is the time to act.
Number of data breaches prove businesses are over-confident about security
A new piece of research has raised further worries about data breaches, and specifically, the perception gap between the number of businesses who believe they’ve experienced a breach, and the actual numbers of data breaches occurring.
The research in question is the new Breach Confidence Index from Ilex International, an identity and access management company, which is based on a survey by YouGov that questioned just over 500 IT decision-makers in the UK.
At last! Microsoft brings OpenSSH to Windows
It is a few months since Microsoft announced that SSH support was on its way to Windows. The absence of this feature has baffled and frustrated many users for years, and Microsoft admitted that it was one of the most frequently requested features of the PowerShell team.
The project comes after Microsoft decided to get involved in the OpenSSH community. Based on a previous NoMachine port, the Windows port is now in sync with OpenSSH 7.1. It means that secure, remote management of Linux machines from Windows is much easier.
How spam and botnets have become big business [Q&A]
Botnets are not a new problem, but they remain a key part of the cyber criminal's armoury. The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG), a global industry forum dedicated to promoting best practices in cyber security, has issued its first report looking at the level of botnet infection. Based on information provided by ISPs covering over 43 million subscribers in the US and Europe it concludes that around one percent of consumers are infected by a bot. The good news is that notification rates are high with between 94 and 99.82 percent of those infected being notified of the problem by their ISP.
Even on those numbers botnets are a major problem. We spoke to Ken Simpson CEO of outbound traffic security company MailChannels and co-chair of M3AAWG's Botnet Subcommittee to find out about how botnets and spam have become big business.
Technology and you: Staying protected while always connected
We live in a connected world. We wake up and the first thing we do is check our social media feeds and the weather. If we take the bus to work, we can pull out our tablets to read the news, or pick up where we left off with our favorite Netflix show. If we drive to work, we have Bluetooth enabled so that we can listen to a podcast or two during the commute. The first thing we do when we get into our office is boot up our laptop and check emails. Gone are the days where smartphones, tablets and laptops act independently of each other.
Today’s devices talk to and interact with one another, all with the intention of delivering a personalized experience. Our online self is an extension of our physical self. However, with more devices, comes more risk. According to a Consumer Reports survey, 34 percent of all smartphone owners do nothing to protect their device. Since we are constantly connected, it is important that all of us become educated on cybersecurity and have a strong understanding of how to keep our devices and data safe.
TalkTalk breach puts details of four million customers at risk
UK telecoms provider TalkTalk says it's been hit by a "significant and sustained" cyber attack which could have exposed the personal information of its four million customers.
In an official statement the company says that data including names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and payment details may have been accessed.
Giveaway: Get 6 months of ransomware protection for free with Bitdefender Internet Security 2016
Bitdefender Internet Security 2016 was only released recently but it’s already received multiple awards, such as Product of the Year (AV-Comparatives), Editor’s Choice (PC Magazine), and Best Protection for four years straight (AV-Test).
The software usually retails for $51.97, but why pay when you can get it for free?
Online pharmacy caught selling consumer data to a lottery company
Everyone worries about online privacy to one extent or another. There's a lot of variation between the lackadaisical and the tin-foil hat brigade. The best place is usually somewhere in the middle, those who are cautious but don't go overboard. That can be difficult to balance when stories like this come along -- an online pharmacy turning over its customer info.
This happened in the United Kingdom and was investigated by the ICO (Information Commissioner's Office) which is in charge of protecting consumer rights in just these types of incidents.
Machine learning solution helps to fight fraud
Data is an essential part of combating and preventing fraud, but many organizations lack the data science and engineering teams needed to allow them to exploit the information they have effectively.
Big data company Feedzai is launching its new Data Science Studio software that uses artificially intelligent, machine-based learning to help prevent fraud.
Self-encrypting Western Digital drives have serious security flaws and backdoors
Security researchers have discovered that a number of Western Digital drives -- including many My Passport and My Book devices -- are blighted with serious vulnerabilities that leave encrypted data stored on them accessible by attackers. The self-encrypting drives were found to be so insecure that it was possible to recover data without the need for the relevant password.
A paper published at the end of September provides details of how some Western Digital drives are susceptible to brute force type attacks, and there are even some models which store the decryption key on the drive. Western Digital would almost certainly rather people were talking about its purchase of SanDisk, but people are more likely to be interested in the company's seemingly terrible approach to security.
Mac and iOS users warned about Apple support scam
Windows users have long been the primary targets of all manner of security attacks, but now the tide is turning towards Mac users. In recent years there have been more viruses and malware attacks aimed at OS X, and security company Malwarebytes is now warning that Mac owners could fall victim to support scams. iPhones and iPads are also at risk.
It's a story that will be familiar to PC owners: fake technical support agents offer to remotely connect to a victim's computer to fix a (fake) problem, and then take control of the system and wreak unknown havoc. Apple does have its own, genuine remote support system accessible through ara.apple.com, but fraudulent pages with similar addresses are being used to trick people into installing remote access software.
Tim Cook: We shouldn't have to choose between privacy and security
In a debate held on Monday, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook argued with government agencies over privacy and backdoor issues once again, stressing that a backdoor is not a good solution.
According to a Bloomberg report, he squared off with NSA Director Admiral Michael Rogers at the Wall Street Journal Digital Live technology conference in Laguna Beach, California.
China attacks US after signing cybertheft agreement
Hackers associated with the Chinese government attacked a handful of American companies just a day after the two countries agreed not to cyber-attack one another.
According to CrowdStrike, a prominent American security firm, the attacks against seven American companies started on September 26. On September 25, President Barack Obama said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that neither government would knowingly support cyber theft of corporate secrets to support domestic businesses.
6 tips on how to protect your mobile device
Because mobile use is becoming more popular, there are more and more security threats that are being designed specifically to target mobile platforms and operating systems.
As a result, many mobile users are starting to panic. Well don’t worry; here are the five best ways that you can protect the information stored on your mobile device.
© 1998-2026 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.